Clean Air America ScandMist Cost Savings

ScandMist installations are often surprised by large and extensive cost savings, including:

• Heating Cost Savings
• HVAC Cost Savings
• Recovered Oil Mist Savings
• Oil Mist Filter Cost Savings
• Facility Cleaning Cost Savings
• Maintenance Cost Savings
• Electronic Drive Board Cost Savings
• Health & Safety Improvements

Heating

Since the clean air vented back to the facility is warm, utilizing a ScandMist system nullifies the need to constantly re-heat the workshop. The temperature of the cleaned air will be dependent on the process it is used upon, but is typically between 59 ºF and 86 ºF.

For Example: Factory using electricity to provide heating to facility installed a Scandmist MA 400 D unit @ 2,400 cfm (4,000 m3/h). It is working a 24-hour day on a process producing 72 ºF of warm clinically cleaned air.

Typical electricity costs: $.10 per unit per hour

Mean annual outside air temperature: 52 ºC

Energy required to maintain 72 ºF: 354 kWh for 24 hours

Cost saving per ScandMist unit: $26.43 per day

This equates to a factory using 10 Scandmist 400 D units working 24/5 per week, and working 48 weeks per year, saving $63,480.00 per year.

Note: In warm environments, the ScandMist can be ducted out through the roof, or to the warehouse and other parts of facility.

Ventilation

By eliminating oil mist at source with a ScandMist system, a factory’s HVAC units will no longer become clogged and damaged by oil mist present in the airflow. This means that the filters will last longer (up to twice usual life), and a further saving can be expected from the disposal of oil-contaminated filters and the associated labor costs.

Returned Oil

Rather than simply venting it elsewhere or retaining it in its filters, ScandMist coalesces oil mist to the base of the unit where it can be reused. This can potentially offer significant savings, especially in applications where high levels of emulsions are utilized.

For Example:

One customer operating a high volume, turned parts factory around the clock, reports that one ScandMist unit was returning 13 gallons per day, which was previously circulated around the factory. This represents a cost saving of 92 gallons of neat oil per week, per ScandMist unit.

Facility Maintenance

Circulating mist is not only unpleasant it also represents a genuine health and safety hazard. With oil dripping from the walls, ceilings and lighting into puddles on the floor, maintenance to cleanup the oil can represent a significant cost.

For Example:

One customer (a large transmission manufacturer) reported a particularly grim situation before adopting ScandMist: cleaning the floor of oil was a full time job for two people at a cost of $62,202.00 per year, lighting had to be cleaned 3-4 times per year, and the walls and ceilings had to be cleaned and repainted every year. This was in spite of having another filtration system in place.

Maintenance of Existing Oil Mist Filtration Systems

Many workshops have inferior filtration systems in place which require huge amounts of maintenance to even keep them performing at a low level. ScandMist’s low maintenance design requires that the gauges are read to ensure performance, and that filters need to be changed every couple of years in general.

For Example (1):

A very large automotive 1st tier supplier had three full-time maintenance workers dedicated to maintaining 250 old technology oil mist filtration systems.

For Example (2):

A very large diesel engine manufacturer which used numerous electrostatic and centrifugal oil mist systems, had to replace the filters and strip and clean the systems every three weeks, a process which costs $389 per unit.

Replacement of Electronic drive boards on CNC Machines

It is well documented that oil mist also contains particulates or slivers of the metal that is being machined. When this finds its way into the electric control boxes of a CNC machine, there is a strong chance of arcing, so destroying the drive boards. By removing the oil mist from the atmosphere with a ScandMist unit, not only is it possible to avoid the high cost of replacement, but the cost of down time is also eliminated.

Health and Safety

It is now widely accepted that the inhalation of oil mist is potentially very harmful. Following a two-year study at Rover, the Health & Safety Executive in the UK found that over 100 workers could have been adversely affected. This, along with well documented incidents in the USA, has led to a change in advice on the control of oil mist, with all previous safe level guidance being removed and a recommendation that it is important to measure total mist and not simply neat oil content. This change in viewpoint by Health & Safety organizations has been confounded by recent cases where companies have faced ongoing litigation and severe penalties handed down by the courts.

Key Concepts in Oil Mist Removal: